Praising Giod

I Will Sing!

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments 
Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
Exodus 15:1 KJV

When the idea of singing is referred to in the Bible most of us think of David’s Psalms. Yes, the Psalms is virtually littered with incidences of David singing, but he was by no means the only singer/songwriter in scripture. Moses wrote the lyrics and then led millions of people in singing after God led them through the Red sea. (Exodus 15:1)Fast forward to the book of judges and we find Deborah and Barak singing together words they collaborated on after God had delivered them in battle. (Judges 5:1-2). Isaiah sang in his prophecies (Isaiah 5:1), Both Mary after the conception of Jesus and Hannah after the birth of Samuel composed songs. While they were in prison, Paul and Silas even sang in their jail cell at midnight, and then God sent an earthquake. (Acts 16:25). Of course we recall angels rejoicing as they announced the news to the shepherds and Revelation is filled with multitudes of saints singing in Heaven, but the most amazing singing I can think of is when Jesus led the disciples in a song at the end of the last supper.

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives Matthew 26:30

Can you even imagine Jesus leading you in song? Some of us (myself included) seem to have difficulty even singing in church. We reason that others are singing better so we will just listen, or we might not care to learn a new song, think it is too high, too low or too loud. The problem we are having is because we forget that singing to the Lord does not originate in our voice box, it begins in our hearts. As Paul tells the Ephesians believers, we are to be.

Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, Ephesians 5:19 ESV

I hope that today, whatever your circumstances, whether you are in battle, in trouble, in prison or in church, that God will help you to focus again on Him. He is the inspiration for our song lyrics, our melodies and our praise. Why not sing to Him a new song or an old hymn. He is listening and best of all, He loves to join us when we praise!

The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 KJV

I do hope you will like our singing of this hymn, which reminds of these truths and that you might even sing along a bit as we let the song that Jesus gave us, ring through our hearts in melody today!

Lively Praise at Assisted Living

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Not long ago, one of my fellow seniors in our Bible study group remarked that when the youth from the worship team do an occasional hymn, they sing everything soooo slowly! They must think that because we are older that we just can’t keep up a faster pace. Here is a pretty lively selection from a meeting a couple of weeks back at an assisted living facility that ought to put that idea to rest! I hope you tap your feet, clap your hands and sing along these three favorites which my fellow senior saints have no problem keeping up with!

Clap your hands, all you nations;
    shout to God with cries of joy.
Psalm 47:1 NIV

A Legacy of Praise

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The Humble shall hear thereof and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together. Psalm 34:1-3 KJV

We won’t have read far into the Bible before we realize that our Sunday School hero; that giant killing boy named David, grew to be a man with plenty of moral failures. Yet in spite of his sins, weaknesses and mistakes, God tells us that David was, “A man after my own heart” Acts 13:22. What makes David so special? We could point to His courage as He faced the giant, His humility in the way He obediently continued taking care of sheep even after He had been chosen to be king or even His musical ability. Yet there are other people in the Bible who also had these characteristics, but what makes David unique is his legacy of praise. Praise is a part of our prayer life equally as important as intercession and without it we will just drift along between problems, wondering what crisis we will need to intercede for next. But if we like David, we begin to praise God when we get victory in battle, then God will also teach us to worship when we are being hunted down by people like the jealous King Saul. (See Psalm 52 and 63). And just as David worships when the ark is brought into Jerusalem, we ought to be praising in church. But David also worships after the death of his child who Bathsheba bore as a result of their adultery, and we he leaves us His heart-rending cry for forgiveness and renewal in Psalm 51.

Our real, honest to goodness legacy of praise is not just “Hip-Hip Hooray, I am so blessed!” when we are nicely dressed and singing in church. We hear David praise the Lord “At all times” even when those all times are hard times. Even in those times when we fail most miserably, we can turn to God in humble repentance and praise Him for His wonderful and undeserved mercies. In Psalm 118:24 David tell us that, “This is the day that the Lord hath made.” That means every one of our days is made by God. Our good days and our bad – successes and failures – our greatest celebrations and our deepest moment of grief all belong to God. But if we praise God at all those times, moment by moment and day by day we become more like the person most like God’s own heart – His Son Jesus Christ. And as His praise remains continually in our mouths, we leave behind for others a true legacy of praise.

I love the Mullett family’s rendering of “Though You Slay Me” and it gives us just a peek into their story and how the God who has kept them through it all is worthy of all our worship, our trust and our praise. I pray you will be blessed as you listen, and that God will help you with whatever you are facing today. He is always worthy of our praise!